Posted on 11/08/2017 4:11:15 PM PST by Jamestown1630
While the food is always the real centerpiece of the Thanksgving table, décor can make any occasion more special and memorable. A recent newsletter recently led me to a really beautiful website, Freutcake, which had this unique idea for place cards or holders at the table.
The mini dried Indian Corn is available from dried botanical suppliers, and perhaps in your grocery florist area or local garden store; but you can also find them in pet stores, where they are sold in bags as a treat/enrichment for small pets. (And if youre not into gilding things, they would be charming just left natural):
http://www.freutcake.com/art-design/diy-art-design/thanksgiving-gold-corn-place-holders/
Another great idea - and website - from Camille Styles, using mini grapevine wreaths and sprigs of rosemary:
https://camillestyles.com/living/diy/rosemary-wreath-place-cards/
With all the things that have to be done at the last minute for Thanksgiving dinner, its nice whenever you can do something ahead. Taste of Home has a do-ahead Turkey Gravy recipe, which is useful even if you make gravy from your drippings but are having a crowd and need more:
https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/make-ahead-turkey-gravy
-JT
I tried hassleback potatoes recently, seen on a Pioneer Woman episode. I absolutely love them, hubby not that excited. So easy to make.
When I make truffles, the centers are made out of a mixture of melted chocolate, heavy whipping cream and sometimes a liquor flavoring. Maybe it’s as rich as one?
I’ve made fudge with a mixture of sweetened condensed milk and melted chocolate.
Whatever floats your boat.
(But I personally like vegetable ;-)
I’ve seen those, and have wanted to try. They look very elegant.
I wish there were LA freeper meetings too.
My memories too. The best of days.
Grew up in Chicago, from November to March it was grey!
But we still had fun, even if we could barely move in our snowsuits!!
Summer was living in trees, huntin for snakes in the corn field, and riding down major hills no-handed on your string ray bike. Got your street crud by flipped over the handle bars.
The really nerdy kids got their tongues stuck frozen to their bike handlebars in the dead of winter!
Different world back then. Weird but fabulous.
We were blessed. We had a blast!!!
I was staring at the Traegers and wondering if they are worth it. We are needing a functioning grill or smoker or something.
Yes, it does sound like the beginning of a mystery best seller! If only I had time to write the other 256 pages! (One day I know I will have plenty of time and I will miss all this craziness)
I just spent 20 minutes ordering Georgette Heyer novels for my mom. It seems they are the best written of that type of historical romance. That woman must have been writing every second of every day.
Ok, just for you Jamestown :)
Moms Green Beans
A simple, no fuss yet elegant recipe
Ingredients:
Two medium yellow onions, coarsely diced
Two or three medium tomatoes, coarsely diced
One to 1 ½ pounds Blue lake green beans, snipped, cut into one inch lengths
Six cloves garlic, minced
Three tablespoons butter
One tablespoon kosher salt
A few grinds of fresh pepper
One lemon
Method:
In a large sauté pan with tight fitting lid, melt butter over low heat
Place onions, tomatoes, garlic, and beans in panin that order, sprinkle salt and pepper over top.
Cover and cook over low heat for one hour without opening until 45 minutes, Open, check and correct seasoning, mix well, and continue cooking for another 15 minutes until cooked. Beans should be melting and thoroughly cooked, If not, another few minutes will do. Juice lemon over beans and serve immediately over cooked rice with your turkey. Enjoy.
My Aunt used to make two really great fudge recipes. She would send them to all of us at Christmas, and guarded the recipes ABSOLUTELY.
(Whenever my Aunt got mad at somebody, she told them that they “wouldn’t inherit any of the ‘family jewels’ “ - and there WERE substantial family jewels left to some people. But she didn’t bother to bequeath the candy recipes to Anyone!)
One recipe was chocolate, with walnuts; and the other was a sort of butterscotch.
When she died, a cousin ferreted-out the chocolate recipe from the estate; and we laughed when we saw it, because it was a very typical one of the time, using marshmallow cream.
But we never found the other one - and THAT was the one I wanted.
So, maybe there actually WERE family ‘candy jewels’ - I’ve never found a recipe that comes close, though some recipes that I’ve tried for Penuche are similar...
The Traegers are very good at smoking. Not so good at things that need direct heat like steaks or hamburgers.
I have had my Traeger for only about 6 months and found the wood varieties confusing. You can get apple, cherry, mesquite, alder, oak, hickory and others.
I like hickory best, mesquite second and oak third. The fruit woods seem to have a strange taste yo me, but some may like it.
It is easy to slow smoke without having to continually watch, the termostat seems to work well.
Because you slice them so thin the tops get crispy.
That looks great, Fungi; very “fresh” - especially compared to the sodden string-bean casserole of Mid-Century-Modern tradition.
(I’m actually a fan of the ‘sodden’ thing; but I’m saving your recipe as a respite from ‘heavy’ this year; and for Christmas potluck parties, where something more fresh and natural is always needed!)
Try me. I’m available.
And I’m looking at very interesting places in which to live these days.
Yaelle, I do believe we’ve met at Freeper events on Wilshire in Westwood!!!
I’m going to have to try that. I’ve been saving recipes for them for years.
Something special - and different - for Christmas, this year!
Fabulous photos on your home page!
Yum! Hazelnuts are my favorite. Is sprouts hazelnut spread the same thing as hazelnut butter?
I bought a Broil King Sovereign about 15 years ago. I grill a lot. It is a very hot propane grill, some assembly required. I replaced the grates and the burner once. I have weeks where I cook on it five out of seven days. It is expensive compared to the WalMart stuff but I think I have gotten more than my money’s worth. Get a grill cover for whatever you get. Watch for wasps, spider or scorpions under the cover. I even found a bat once at another grill I have in the Ozarks.
You mean like this C*** here? https://www.campbells.com/kitchen/recipes/classic-green-bean-casserole/. How can anyone eat that? It is only there to increase the soup maker’s sales. I will never buy another Campbell’s product. Why, when you can make it infinitely better at home?
Thanks. I have many more I need to add. They are much better!
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